Dow slides back below 30,000

U.S. equity markets opened little changed Wednesday after a mixed batch of economic data dropped the Dow back below 30,000.

STOCK FUTURES MIXED ON ECON DATA

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 103 points, or 0.34%, in the opening minutes of trading while the S&P 500 was down 0.18% and the Nasdaq Composite was higher by 0.2%. The mixed open comes after the Dow on Wednesday topped 30,000 for the first time.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
I:DJI	DOW JONES AVERAGES	37986.4	+211.02	+0.56%

GDP, DURABLES SOLID AS JOBLESS CLAIMS TICK UP

October durable goods orders rose 1.3%, better than the 0.9% that analysts surveyed by Refinitiv were expecting. Excluding transportation, a 1.5% increase was recorded.

Other economic data showed third-quarter gross domestic procuct rose at an unrevised 33.1% annualized rate while intial jobless claims totaled 778,000, more than the 730,000 economists were expecting. Continuing claims remained elevated at 6.07 million.

U.S. GDP GROWS BY RECORD 33.1%

Oil majors Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. pulled back despite West Texas Intermediate crude oil trading up 62 cents at $45.53 per barrel.

Retailers that saw strong gains in recent sessions due to optimism surrounding a COVID-19 vaccine opened lower with Gap Inc. and Macy’s Inc. among the biggest decliners.

Nordstrom Inc. bucked the downtrend in the retail sector after the company swung to an unexpected quarterly profit as digital sales in the three months through September totaled $1.6 billion, or 54% of revenue. The department store anticipates “pent-up customer demand” as a COVID-19 vaccine is distributed to the masses.

Elsewhere in earnings, Deere & Co. reported stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings and forecast a higher fiscal year 2021 profit amid higher crop prices and improving fundamentals in the agricultural sector.

TESLA SECURES $500B+ MARKET CAP

Meanwhile, Tesla Inc. shares slipped after on Tuesday eclipsing $500 for the first time since September, when shares split 5-for-1. The company's market cap hit $526 billion for the first time making it larger than rivals including Toyota, Ford and General Motors.

More economic data is on tap for Wednesday with October new home sales, personal income and spending, and November consumer sentiment all set to cross the wires Wednesday morning.

Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s meeting earlier this month are due out at 2 p.m. ET.

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European markets were lower across the board with Britain’s FTSE 100 pacing the decline, off 0.58%. Elsewhere, Germany’s DAX 30 and France’s CAC 40 were lower by 0.17% and 0.1%, respectively.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.5%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index edged up 0.31% and China’s Shanghai Composite index lost 1.19%.